Number of psychology textbooks sold: Number of history textbooks sold:

Question

A textbook store sold a combined total of 382

 psychology and history textbooks in a week. The number of history textbooks sold was 62

 less than the number of psychology textbooks sold. How many textbooks of each type were sold?

Answer 1

If we define p as the number of psychology textbooks sold and h as the number of history textbooks sold, we can produce the following system of equations.

p+h=382

h=p-62

To solve this system, you can use substitution and plug the second equation into the first:

p+h=382

p+(p-62)=382

2p-62=382

2p=444

p=222

Now that you've solved for p, you can go back into either of the original equations and solve for h.

h=p-62

h=222-62

h=160

Therefore, your final answer is the textbook store sold 222 psychology textbooks and 160 history textbooks.